ONE WORD

American rapper, Jay–Z is now, according to a new Forbes magazine, the first rapper to amass a fortune in the ten-figure range. “It’s clear that Jay-Z has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire—and the first hip-hop artiste to do so,” the magazine said. Forbes breakdown indicated that the rapper’s chief source of wealth is his $300-a-bottle Armand de Brignac champagne brand (at $310 million), but also boasts investments at well over $200 million (including a large stake in Uber). Forbes said that the reason Jay-Z’s wealth went all up on the table due to his new business interest in alcohol. His streaming service Tidal allegedly supplies about $100 million of his net worth, just behind his cognac D’Ussé. Jay-Z, recently gave a special performance to celebrate the re-opening of the celebrated NYC venue Webster Hall. He and wife Beyoncé were recipients of the Vanguard Prize at the...

Former World Footballer of the Year and Argentina Captain, Lionel Messi, has revealed how the 2-1 victory the Albeceleste recorded against Nigeria in their last Group D match of the 2018 World Cup in Russia remains one of his most important matches with the national team. The FC Barcelona captain, who is yet to win any silverware with his country despite a trophy-laden chest with the LaLiga giants. Messi only have trophies and medals from junior competitions in Argentina colours. In an interview with Fox Sports yesterday ahead of the Copa America tournament, Messi revealed that if Argentina had lost and was eliminated by Eagles in that decisive match in St Petersburg, critics were already waiting for them back home. He insisted that such humiliation would have pushed many players of his generation to quit the Argentine senior national team. Nigeria was on the verge of qualification for the next round after Victor Moses’ penalty cancelled out Lionel Messi’s early strike to leve...

The former Arsenal boss thinks Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp needs to be careful when bringing in new players Arsene Wenger has sent a transfer warning to Jurgen Klopp after he won the Champions League with Liverpool. The Reds' European success puts them in the perfect position to attract any player on the planet this summer, as they can offer them Champions League football and the chance to win serious medals next season. But Former Arsenal manager Wenger has warned that new signings might have an adverse effect on team morale, as Klopp attempts to win his first Premier League title next season. Speaking on beIN SPORTS, Wenger said: "They need to dominate European football to improve the technical level. "But they might lose what is their strength at the moment - that solidarity, their fighting spirit. In our jobs, we know we need to improve a team but sometimes, by improving one aspect you destroy what makes you win." Klopp spoke out about possi...

Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has attacked the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, over alleged comment that Christians should not criticise President Muhammadu Buhari. Fani-Kayode apparently sad with the comment, asked God to deliver Christians from church leaders that slaughter the sheep, defend the cruel, support injustice, love the wicked, and serve the tyrant. Kumuyi had during his sermon at the Deeper Life Bible Church Headquarters, Gbagada, Lagos on Sunday, made the alleged comment, adding that true Christians must obey constituted authorities and shun violence. But responding in a statement on his Twitter handle, Fani-Kayode quoting the clergy said, “Don’t attack Buhari”- Kumuyi. The former minister then wrote, “God deliver us from shepherds that slaughter the sheep, that defend the cruel, that support injustice, that love the wicked, that serve the tyrant, that despise the weak, that enslave the poor and t...

Scraped knees and scratched elbow after falling from our cycles are part of what makes childhood memories of playing so nostalgic. Having your elder sister, brother or uncle "holding" the back of the seat, pushing you along...It was the best, most exciting feeling ever — till they let go, resulting in said now-memorable injuries. As time went by and we grew up, those cycles were left to rust in backyards and building compounds. In an effort to bring the bicycle and the cycling habit back in fashion, the United Nations declared 3 June World Bicycle Day last year, as a celebration the "uniqueness, longevity, and versatility" of the bicycle. Days ahead of the celebration last year, Bengaluru also appointing its first ever 'Bicycle Mayor' — the first of its kind in India, Satya Shankaran. Professor Leszek Sibilski of Montgomery College, Maryland, USA and his sociology class petitioned for the bicycle to have its own day, to recognize all its good qual...

L-R: Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Engr. Abiodun Dabiri; Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat during the Governor’s inspection of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway on Sunday, June 2, 2019. Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has assured Lagos residents that work will commence on Lagos-Badagry expressway from Maza-Maza to Okokomaiko this month. However, the project was initiated during the administration of Governor Raji Fashola in 2009 to be completed 10 years after. It was meant to find lasting solution to the traffic lock jaws in that axis, which is a major artery to the West African sub-region. Lagos government wanted to expand the road from four to 10 lanes with a metro rail line, movie style, running in the median. Notwithstanding the grand plan, the project remained unattended to until now when Governor Sanwo-Olu went on tour of the place wh...

Artist's conception of the March 2013 lunar impact as seen from Earth. Image: NASA'S Scientific Visualization Studio For a while now, astronomers with their telescopes pointed at the Moon have noticed short flashes of light, multiple times a week on the Moon's surface. The flashes seemed to begin, light up a part of the moon's landscape and die off in a matter of seconds. Other times, it's the exact opposite: the surface grows darker in a small region than the rest of the Moon very briefly. Oddly, this phenomena has been observed on-and-off by astronomers for over 60 years, but without an explanation for it. A team of researchers from the Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany decided they've had enough of the mystery — they're decoding the strange, regular flashes with the hope of finding what's causing the "transient lunar phenomena". The team has built a special telescope for the task that uses artificial i...

Livy Uzoukwu, lead counsel of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked Zainab Bulkachuwa, president of the court of appeal, to appoint her replacement on the presidential election tribunal in order to save time. Bulkachuwa withdrew as head of the five-man panel of the tribunal on May 22, following a petition accusing her of a likelihood of bias. In a letter sent to Bulkachuwa on May 31, Uzoukwu said the delay in the appointment of a replacement will stall the enforcement of justice which the judiciary stands for. Silas Joseph, a member of the legal team who signed the letter on behalf of Uzoukwu, asked Bulkachuwa to act quickly considering “the strict requirement of keeping to the constitutional calendar for a petition and the obvious fact that time is also running fast against the petitioners.” “I have the authority of the Lead Counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) to write this letter. My Lord will recall that on 22nd Ma...

Nigeria will take on Senegal in the 2019 U-20 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 on Monday night. Thanks to their 1-1 draw with Ukraine, Paul Aigbogun’s boys qualified as one of the best third-placed teams at the competition. The Flying Eagles had defeated Qatar 4-0, before losing 2-0 to the United States in their opening two fixtures. They will now take on their fellow Africans, who finished as Group A winners, where they won two matches and got a draw. The encounter is scheduled to kickoff at 7.30pm (West African Time). SuperSport 7 will provide live coverage of the knockout game from the Lodz Stadium, Łódź.

It looks like the Drake curse has struck again. British boxer Anthony Joshua seemingly went into Saturday's heavyweight title fight with supreme confidence. He was so confident, in fact, that he thought he could be the one to break the famed Drake curse, which has supposedly plagued sports teams and athletes that Drake has expressed support for over the years. (It should also be noted that the Toronto rapper has a reputation for being a notorious bandwagon fan.) Joshua posted a picture with the rapper on March 21, with the caption "Bout to break the curse #June1st." But alas, Joshua's heavyweight boxing skills seemed to be no match for the Drake curse, and he succumbed to Andy Ruiz Jr. in a stunning upset -- the first loss of his career. Believers of the curse were quick to blame Drake. Sure, you could chalk Joshua's loss up to the fact that Ruiz simply fought better, but sports fans are a superstitious bunch. The jury's still out on whether th...

Flying Eagles at training session in Poland. Two-time silver medalists Flying Eagles of Nigeria believe they can overpower fellow African representatives Senegal this night and reach the FIFA Under-20 World Cup quarter finals in Poland. Monday’s encounter will kick off at 7.30pm Nigeria time. Senegal, second at Africa’s continental tournament in Niger Republic earlier in the year, where Nigeria finished fourth, topped Group A in Poland to reach the Round of 16, with Nigeria just squeezing through as one of the best four third-place finishers. However, the good old cliché says football is no mathematics and anything can happen when eleven players oppose another set of eleven players. Even at the tournament in Poland, one can reflect on the group stage elimination of a skillful and cohesive Portuguese team after being forced to a draw by homeward-bound South Africa, just as Norway, who pounded Honduras 12-0, left the tournament on the same day as their victims. Coach Paul Aigbog...

Following his loss in the hands of Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua still went home with 20 million pounds. Newly-crowned world champion, Andy Ruiz Jr, 29, will only get £5million after his historic win against Anthony Joshua, 29,  at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. The Mexican boxer knocked down the British/Nigerian boxer four times, before forcing a seventh-round stoppage to dethrone the WBA, WBO and IBF champion and became the first Mexican-American heavyweight world champion. Anthony Joshua will earn £20 million despite losing while Andy Ruiz Jr will take home just £5m after winning the world title fight The upset was arguably the biggest within the division since Hasim Rahman stopped Lennox Lewis in 2001 and brought back memories of James "Buster" Douglas' 1990 win over Mike Tyson. But it is Joshua who will earn a bigger share of the fight purse.

Serena Williams Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou had written off her chances of winning this year’s French Open even before she lost to fellow American Sofia Kenin in the third round on Saturday. “Honestly, if Serena didn’t lose this one she would probably lose next round, or when the top players would have been the other side of the court,” said Mouratoglou, talking in an interview with broadcaster Eurosport. “Of course it’s a disappointment, but in a way it had to happen. She knew she had little chance of winning this year’s French Open,” he added. Williams’ time on court has been limited to a handful of matches since the Australian Open because of a knee injury. “First of all, she knew she was not coming to this tournament being prepared the way she wanted to because of the big injury in Miami,” Mouratoglou said. “For many weeks she was not able to do anything because she had to recover. “So the time she had to prepare was much too short. She did her best,...

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries on Monday slammed an indefinite suspension on the ‘Pastor’ of its branch in Life Camp area of Abuja, David Onyekachukwu, over an indecent relationship with a 16-year-old girl. The church, however, said Onyekachukwu is “not an ordained Pastor” and has been arrested by the police. The MFM premised the indefinite suspension on its investigation which established that the ‘Pastor’ raped the girl and consequently resulted in pregnancy. According to the spokesperson of MFM, Collins Edomaruse, obtained by The Punch in Abuja said the indefinite suspension was “in line with the rules and regulations of MFM which forbid such acts and frown at them.” The statement quoted the Regional Overseer of MFM in Gwarimpa Region, Pastor Niyi Babalola as confirming the suspension. Babalola said, “He (Onyekachukwu) is not an ordained pastor in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries. He is just a member/worker in that Life Camp branch and he has been...

Anthony Joshua ✔ @anthonyfjosh This is Andy’s night, congratulations Champ 🇲🇽 History tells us the 2012 Olympic champion's career is now heading in a different direction to the one that signposted undisputed dominance. Ruiz's victory is heavyweight boxing's biggest upset since James "Buster" Douglas dethroned Mike Tyson in Tokyo in 1990. Like the then-undefeated Tyson, Joshua has been robbed of his fear factor. Vulnerability being laid bare in public — Joshua's up-and-down thriller against Wladimir Klitschko two years ago means this type of defeat felt possible, if not against Ruiz — is not an insurmountable problem. Fellow Briton Lennox Lewis was sensationally stopped by both Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, responding to avenge those losses and regain his titles. Joshua is likely to have the same chance in a rematch against Ruiz in the UK before the end of this year, but the manner of his loss is more troubl...